(288f) Improving Indoor Air Quality: Determining Adsorption Properties of VOC’s Using Concentration Pulse Chromatography

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is caused by indoor air pollution and is a major issue for people who spend most of their time indoors. This condition is frequently attributed to chemical contaminants such as formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, benzene, ammonia, and trichloroethylene which accumulate indoors and are of particular concern in places with inadequate ventilation. In general, these components are not present in acute exposure concentrations but over prolonged exposure, these components can have chronic health effects such as allergic sensitization, increased cancer risks, and respiratory disease. Adsorption has been a strategy to reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds using commercially available materials, but there is yet to be a cyclical process in place to continuously remove these contaminants from indoor settings.

This presentation will summarize the investigation into finding a promising adsorbent among silicas, activated aluminas, zeolites, activated carbons, and polymers for removal of formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, benzene, ammonia, and trichloroethylene from air. Concentration pulse chromatographic technique has been used to determine Henry’s law constants and heat of adsorption values of these compounds with above-mentioned adsorbents. This study is important for future work into gas masks and indoor filters to purify air from ammonia and volatile organic compounds to alleviate people who suffer from SBS.